[P] The Breakthrough [Archived]

Posted 3 years, 1 month ago (Edited 3 years, 1 month ago) by HannahBug

⭕ This event is not active and cannot be done without an exception day!

the_breakthrough_banner_by_hannah__bug_d

A collection of Artisan City residents have gathered up by city hall to discuss unexciting adult things like what to do about crops that were flooded recently and water damage that needs repaired. Younger keke dragged along by their parents and guardians are desperately trying to not be bored out of their minds. In their quest, they notice two keke approaching up the main road. They fear these are just more boring adults late to the meeting, but the social butterfly kids say they haven't seen these two before. Exasperated adults have to attempt to hush the sudden babble interrupting their meeting as the children loudly hypothesize what the visitors could be doing here

A few moments later, Koi sales the high wall leading up to the hall, Embert hitching a free ride on her back. To her surprise, she's ambushed by little keke dying for a distraction. Her companion detaches to distract the crowd (who aren't quite sure he isn't a baby? Why is he so small?), allowing her to draw attention to herself "I'm sorry for interrupting," She starts in a clear voice made to attract the whole gathering "But we have some news that needs to be spread and we figured this was the best place to go."

"See, uh...this might sound crazy, but...one of our guild, Coraline, seems to have discovered that we might, as a species, have mind powers." As she speaks, Koi starts to notice that her audience seems to be looking...behind her...? Her voice dwindles off as she peers backwards only to be blinded by a flash of light. A glow has begun to build from the city's power crystals, getting brighter with each second. Moments later, it hits like a shockwave. All those present find their vision goes white and then black.

TL;DR: Koi and Embert show up to a meeting in Artisan City, claiming Snakekeys have "mind powers". The city's power crystals light up and blind everyone

☀️> This is a plot event (what the [P] stands for). It will effect/unlock things for the group
☀️> Note when using PCs for this event some parts will not work for them, these being as Mind and Speak. Likewise, these will not work for keke who have had their cheek pouches removed
☀️> Note that keke without clear cheek pouches (such as Ewes) will be fine in the above branches. The only keke it won't work on are ones who have specifically had pouches removed via an upgrade
☀️> This is a choose-your-own-adventure style event. Branches must be followed in the order provided. If you want to get multiple endings, you can, but you'll need to start at the beginning per each ending
☀️> If a branch develops a way you don't like, you can backtrack a step without restarting the event to pursue a different set of branches (as long as it still makes sense, of course)
☀️> There are 4 possible endings

HannahBug

🌿 Start: Wake 🌿

You blink your eyes open, hoping the glare has passed. Instead of your expected surroundings, be it the Artisan City hall, your house in Uptree, the woods outside Bumpytown, or anywhere else, you see something different. You're in a huge, ominous chamber made out of smooth, dark stone. It's shadowy, echoey, and kind of chilly. You're probably alone, but might be accompanied by a max of five other creatures. If you were touching any items (such as clothes) when you were blinded, you may find they've come with you. Otherwise, you're empty handed

Besides that, the only things with you in the chamber include a massive set of double doors, reaching up to what you figure is two or three stories tall. They have no handles, but a square indentation in their center at eye-level about the size of a large dinner plate. Scattered on the floor nearby, there are square-shaped stone tablets, slightly smaller than the indentation itself. Framing the sides of the doors are two enormous relief carvings of Sheeps (though they are far smaller than the real thing). Accompanying each beast is a disproportionately large carving of a keke with a paw resting on the creature's leg. Neither figure seems to be hostile towards each other. The four sets of eyes seem to be looking down on you...

☀️> Draw/write 100 words about your keke/PC doing something related to this prompt
☀️> Drawn entries must be a minimum of semi-cleanly lined. Color is not required
☀️> If you wish, you can use official NPCs or Punkin instead of keke you own/if you don't own any keke
☀️> Entries go in the Event Entries folder!

Investigate the stone tablets > Proceed to Part 1: Heat 🕯️
Investigate the carvings > Proceed to Part 1: Mind 👁️

HannahBug

👁️ Part 1: Mind 👁️

Despite their imposing form, you creep towards the stone Sheeps. Their and the kekes' eyes seem to follow you as you near, but the effect fades once you get too close. As you approach, though, you start to feel something strange. It's like there's a bubble swelling beneath your ribs. Clearly, bubbles do not go there, so you try to pin discomfort on this unfamiliar sensation, but at the same time, that doesn't seem quite right... If you were present at Artisan City before finding yourself here, you remember Koi saying something about "mind powers". What does that even mean...? Can you do mind powers? How would you?

As you try to think about this distraction, the 'bubble' in your chest suddenly pops. It's as if it was full of smoke, which rises up to fill your head. Instead of a haze, you feel an abrupt slash of clarity. It's almost alarmingly sharp, with your eyes seemingly refusing to focus and you feel like you couldn't find the rest of your body right now if you needed to. A strange glow begins to peel of your cheek pouches, tinting the corners of what vision you have. Despite the abnormal sensation, part of this feels...familiar. It seems right

A voice fills your head, one that you just know belongs to a Sheeps "Congratulations." It says warmly "You remember." You manage to snap to, looking up at the giant carving. It has not moved. Distantly, you hear a deep chuckle. In front of you, there's a loud, ancient-sounding click and the double doors recede into the walls, opening enough for you to pass through. Despite what you try, the Sheeps does not say anything else

☀️> This branch does not work for PCs or keke without cheek pouches!
☀️> Draw/write 100 words about your keke/PC doing something related to this prompt
☀️> Drawn entries must be a minimum of semi-cleanly lined. Color is not required
☀️> If you wish, you can use official NPCs or Punkin instead of keke you own/if you don't own any keke
☀️> Entries go in the Event Entries folder!

Pass through the doors > Proceed to Part 2: Light 🎇

HannahBug

🕯️ Part 1: Heat 🕯️

Trying to ignore the giant figures looming overhead, you focus your attention on the tablets scattered near the doors. Lifting one up, you realize it's more of a stencil, with a large hole in its center. Each of the blocks has a different shape, which include a paw pad, a key, a hook, a keyhole, a fang, and a squiggle you think is supposed to be a Snakekey. Not sure what to do, you decide to test pressing one of these into the indentation on the doors. They're too bulky to fit more than one in the slot. To your surprise, the stone doesn't do as much as your own paws do. The material in the indentation reacts to your temperature, leaving blue smudges if you're cold-blooded, red if you're warm-blooded. You can use this in combination with the stencils to make specific shapes in the slot, though your first attempt suddenly vanishes after you pull away. Must not have been the right answer...

If you're decent at puzzles, this might not take that long. If you're not, well...you've got nothing but time on your hands until you manage to brute force the thing. Whatever the case, you find that inputting a paw pad holding a key results in the doors emitting a low, ancient-sounding click. They then recede into the walls slowly, allowing enough room for you to squeeze past them

Pass through the doors > Proceed to Part 2: Light 🎇

HannahBug

🎇 Part 2: Light 🎇

The next room is as dark as the first, if not more so. You can scarcely see your own paw in front of your face. Thankfully, as you slither over the threshold, the floor transitions to what seems like large, ivory bricks that glow lightly upon contact. Their light doesn't spread far, but it's enough to keep you from getting lost in this, from what you can tell, significantly larger chamber. It's glow lingers for about a minute after you move away before fading back into its dormant state.

Using the bricks as a makeshift lantern, you do your best to explore the yawning darkness. You find the room is rectangular and no smaller than a football field. It's lined with many a door of varying shapes, but they seem to be only carvings. You can't get any of them open despite your best efforts. However, there are so many, with some even being located high up on the walls, that it would take too long to check them all in your initial sweep. At the far end of the room, you find an enormous shelf that you nearly miss. If it hadn't been for the glowing lines that reacted to your touch when you brushed it, you probably would assumed it was just the back wall. You think you see shadows up there, but it's around two stories up so you can't really...see

Look for a real door > Proceed to Part 3: Hall ⏹
Investigate the shelf > Proceed to Part 3: Bone 🦴
Draw patterns on the floor > Proceed to Part 3: Code 🐾

HannahBug

⏹ Part 3: Hall ⏹

You decide to begin the tedious task of pushing on every door-shape you are able to reach, hoping one of them will give. You've got nothing but time on your hands and it's a good thing. If you were restricted to a time limit, you don't think it'd be possible to carry through with this plan... You just hope you're shoving hard enough on these doors and that the one you needed wasn't...super stuck or something.

By the time you're considering giving up hope, you defeatedly push on the outline of another door, only to be startled by a flash of light. The carvings of the frame fill with the same light as the one beneath you. Despite this, there is no other movement nor a click signaling your victory. Are these things...buttons? You decide to continue on. Thankfully, the door remains lit, not going dark as you keep pushing random things. Eventually, another flares to life beneath your paws. You still have a lot of area to cover, but now you have hope that you're doing something right

A little while later, you've lit the outlines of four doors (which were thankfully fairly close to each other). There's the chime of a cheerful-sounding bell which stops you from continuing your quest. It's silent for a moment before you hear a crack and a beam of light slices through the blackness. Nearby, a door that you're certain you attempted to open already folds inwards, revealing a hall warmly alight with what must be ancient lanterns. You enter, trying to get your eyes to adjust to the light change. Inside, the walls are decorated with thousands of carvings, depicting shapes of Snakekeys, animals, plants, and everything under the sun. You're not sure what all of it means and feel it would take ages to try and decode it all... At the end of the long corridor, there's a large, round, yellow stone partially embedded in the wall that draws your attention

Investigate the yellow stone > Proceed to Part 4: Reminder 🗝️

HannahBug

🦴 Part 3: Bone 🦴

If you want to see what's on top of the huge shelf, you have little other option than to climb. Belly scales make this easy, but there are small grooves where the light runs through that might serve as handholds if you need them. The higher up you get, the more you get a sense of foreboding...but that could just be the height. You try to push it away. As you approach the top, the glowing lines beneath you suddenly shoot upwards, disappearing over the edge overhead. They seem to connect to a larger bar of light, proving a backlight to the ledge. This illuminates the enormous figure of a feline-like skull, peering around the corner, seemingly staring at you. Your heart jumps to your throat. What's worse, two amber lights flare to life inside the cat's eye sockets, marked with dark, slit pupils. They are definitely staring at you.

You think it's probably time to head back to the ground and leave now. As you start to do this, the skeleton above you throws its head back, emitting a yowl that is fierce and somehow dry - dusty even. You hardly are able to return to the floor before the huge bone creature leaps to the ground not far away with such force that the ceiling far out of sight rumbles. The beast whirls on you, bearing sharp claws and fangs and moving in quickly for the attack

Talk the cat down > Proceed to Part 4: Speak 🐈
Treat this like a boss battle > Proceed to Part 4: Fight 🔪

HannahBug

🐾 Part 3: Code 🐾

If you entered the heat-code on the door to get it open, you wonder if you can draw the same symbol on the floor with the glow. Maybe it will make something happen. If you're unaware of the code, you discover that some bricks stay lit when you pass over them. Slithering across nearby bricks results in the same effect (most of the time), so you start playing a game of really big color-by-number...except there are no numbers and you don't know what you're making. After a while of you randomly squiggling around on the floor, you've made the shape of a large paw holding a key

For just a moment, nothing happens. Then, you're surprised by a clunk (and several more, increasingly distant-sounding clunks). A portion of the floor, previously dark, lights up to reveal an opening has formed. You draw closer, which allows you to watch as a ramp builds itself into the dark depths below. Eventually, it stops descending and elongates into a hall, but you are unable to see further, as the ceiling's in the way

Go down the ramp > Proceed to Part 4: Book 📚

HannahBug

🗝️ Part 4: Reminder 🗝️

Once you notice the stone in the wall, you become overwhelmed with it, as if it's the only thing you're able to think about. You come closer, passing many carvings in the wall that seem to grow increasingly dramatic near the orb (not that you notice). You extend a paw and touch its smooth surface. You find that your eyes close and you feel...different. You don't feel like you.

You feel so much larger than you should be, but at the same time small...insignificant. You can barley move and all around you is cold. You try to open your eyes, but it doesn't change anything. You just see blackness. Then, other strange feelings start to blend with this one. Somewhere far away in a location you feel like you should be able to pinpoint, but can't (you head is so hazy...) you feel yourself come in contact with the yellow stone. Something in you starts to glow in response and you can almost just see what surrounds you. The you touching the stone is so much different than you remember, but still there nonetheless "You can do it." You tell yourself, summoning your most inspirational-sounding voice "You can break free."

The illusion becomes too much. Things become increasingly fuzzy and you feel both versions of you slip away. You fall unconscious.

You awake where you previously were, as if nothing had happened. Keke around you seem to be asleep or are just waking up as you are. You feel things are not the same...

> Path completed <

HannahBug

🐈 Part 4: Speak 🐈

You start to cry out in alarm, but something seems to tell you 'no, not like that'. As baffling as the line of thought is, you don't have spare time to process it since you're about to get totally murdered. In the moment of fight or flight, something in you seems to click, as if it understands something you have yet to grasp. Tendrils of light are suddenly pouring from your cheek pouches and you sense the presence of the giant cat in front of you in a way you've never sensed before. The feeling is apparently mutual, as the beast slows and recedes from its pounce-to-kill position. Its (or her, rather) glowing eyes remain locked on you as it sinks onto its haunches, sitting in front of you "You speak." Her voice rasps inside your head, sounding skeptical, but accepting at the same time "Perhaps you are not so foolish after all."

You open you mouth (mind?) to say something, but the words fall away from you. You feel as if you're about to faint and the sensation is rapidly growing in intensity. As you start to fall away, the giant skeleton eyes you critically. Her eyes go dark and you are only just able to see her return to her perch, leaping high out of your line of sight, before your vision fully goes black. The last thing you feel comes from the beast, your mind still linked with hers, as she nuzzles three skeletal forms very similar to her, yet much smaller "Perhaps" She muses to herself. And then you recall no more

You awake where you previously were, as if nothing had happened. Keke around you seem to be asleep or are just waking up as you are. You feel things are not the same...

> Path completed <

HannahBug

🔪 Part 4: Fight 🔪

Quickly gathering yourself, you take off before the cat can land a deadly swipe. There's no way you can hide from it with the floor lighting up beneath you, but maybe you could duck away into the first room... Behind you, you hear the beast screech again, clearly quite annoyed that you've decided to run. It gives chase regardless, its huge paws clattering on the hard floor. It catches up quickly thanks to its sheer size and it already poised to strike you a second time. Thankfully, you find there's just enough delay in its movements that you can dodge the blow. Bones slam down onto the ground right next to you, inspiring you not to slow your pace.

It gets in a few more swats, but soon you're near the doors. You dart inside and just half a second later, you hear a horrible bang. Once you feel your a safe distance away, you whirl to see that it smashed its head into the doors at high speeds. The stone did not enjoy this and has cracked significantly, but it doesn't seem to matter, as the form of the skeleton is crumpled on the ground, its eyes dark. You wait a bit to ensure the thing doesn't get back up before cautiously approaching the huge skull. You just...really want to touch it. You're not sure why, but your mind pushes away any questions you try and ask yourself. Moments later, you've planted your paw on the cool bone

The amber eyes flare back to life like fires contained within the thing's eye sockets. Yet, you don't panic. You kind of feel like...you did that. You feel like...you could tell the bones to rise up as if its legs were your own. As you think this, the skeleton scrapes against the floor, slowly rising to its paws and sitting in front of you. It (you?) glares down at you (yourself?). You think to yourself that you are an annoying little pest, which offends you.

You snap back, but the other half of you hisses 'Begone. Get out of my sight.' and your vision immediately goes black. You crumple to the floor, but only the you half of you. The cat-you turns with a huff and peels away from your consciousness. You're left feeling like yourself (as in, there is just one of you) as you sink away from wakefulness

You awake where you previously were, as if nothing had happened. Keke around you seem to be asleep or are just waking up as you are. You feel things are not the same...

> Path completed <

HannahBug

📚 Part 4: Book 📚

Thankfully, the corridor is lit from somewhere beneath the stairs, so you won't struggle to see on your way down. Not-so-thankfully, the ramp gradually disappears behind you, which includes sealing the entrance. Hoping you won't need to go back that way, you try not to think about it and continue on.

As it turns out, the area you couldn't see before it made of a pearly blue material and well-lit. It opens into a leaf-shaped chamber where the walls have shelves cut into them, lined with hundreds and hundreds of thick books. They dominate most of the room, with only one of the leaf's points breaking the mold with large windows. Even from your place at the back of the room, you can see that the panes reveal a view of Susie from space, surrounded by colorful shimmers from her rings. You very nearly miss it, but you realize there's the faintest outline of a figure in front of the windows. You think it's a Snakekey, but you're not sure. Upon your noticing, the apparition turns to face you

"It's so sad..." It says in a soft voice that grips your heart, like you've just disappointed someone dear to you "So much. Lost." It waves a ghostly arm at the rows of books, the limb almost too faint for you to see "I wish you could stay. You could read them to me. Even I can hardly remember..." Its words grow more woeful as it continues on and you become not so sure that you won't burst into tears. At the same time, you notice that the room around you is growing faint, the colors hard to distinguish. You feel tired, exhausted even... You recall the outline murmuring "May we meet again" and nothing more

You awake where you previously were, as if nothing had happened. Keke around you seem to be asleep or are just waking up as you are. You feel things are not the same...

> Path completed <

HannahBug

🌿 Results 🌿

Upon this event, which seems to have effected a large portion of the valley's population, word spreads quickly. Keke do, indeed, seem capable of telepathy towards animals...
Research and information regarding the topic of this widespread dream and Artisan City's power crystals is a hot commodity. Word of the Havener's guild spreads and the guild's popularity expands
Keke discover they are able to bond with their pets. The ability to train animals increases as keke can now easily tell if and when animals are upset, as well as tell creatures directly what they want

Rewards not archived here. See DA